The Atlantic City Free Public Library Goes Live on Koha with ByWater Solutions

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Atlantic City Free Public Library, of Atlantic City, NJ. is now live on Koha. ByWater Solutions completed the migration of the library's 70,000 plus holdings from Millennium earlier this year and is providing ongoing Koha support services to them. The library's hosting services are provided by Jersey Connect, a program in the state that provides free hosting services to libraries utilizing an open source ILS. The library's customized online Koha catalog can be viewed at: http://opac.acfpl.org/

Brendan Gallagher, CEO of ByWater commented on their partnership with the library:

"We are very excited to have the opportunity to partner with the team at the Atlantic City Free Public Library. New Jersey is a hotbed for open source interest and we are thrilled to be able to bring the benefits of Koha to the staff and patrons of Atlantic City. We look forward to a long and productive relationship with the library and greatly appreciate their support."

About The Atlantic City Free Public Library:
In November of 1901, a plan for a public library was embraced by Atlantic City residents in a landslide referendum, with 6,062 voters in favor and only 30 opposed. Thus the Atlantic City Free Public Library was established, using as its nucleus 1,000 books from a small, privately-run library opened a few years earlier by the Women's Research Club, a cultural organization that still exists today.

The Library's first quarters were in the third floor of City Hall, located at Tennessee and Atlantic Avenues, where service began on April 3, 1902. The Library formally opened its doors on January 1, 1903, in a wood frame house at Illinois and Pacific Avenues. The land at this site had been recently purchased to be the Library's permanent location and became the Library's home. Subsequently Andrew Carnegie donated $71,000 for the construction. Dedication for this structure took place on January 2, 1905. The photo is of the Andrew Carnegie building circa 1910.

Plans for the current home of the Library began in 1981. The groundbreaking for the new building, located at Tennessee and Atlantic Avenues, took place on January 28, 1982. This modern two-story 3.8 million dollar building, dedicated on July 31, 1985, has a capacity of 135,000 volumes, and three times the reading space of its predecessor. Like its predecessor, it will serve the citizens of Atlantic City for decades.

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha's OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies, HTML5, CSS and Javascript, making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/

About ByWater Solutions:
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality Koha support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha support and implementation with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions for Koha support not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the Wessels Library at Newberry College, of Newberry, South Carolina is now live on Koha! ByWater Solutions completed the migration of the library's 75,000 plus holdings from Symphony earlier this year and is providing ongoing Koha support and hosting services to them. The Library's customized online Koha catalog can be viewed at: http://newberry.bywatersolutions.com

Nancy Rosenwald, Director of the Wessels Library, commented on their decision to switch to Koha with ByWater:

"Our migration was initially motivated by cost and previous experience with Evergreen, a different open source program; however, reduced cost has proven to be just one of the many benefits of moving to Koha. It’s easier for our patrons to find materials, and it’s simpler for our library staff to complete their work. We’ve already seen increases in usage since our migration four months ago. We’ve also found Bywater to be responsive to our migration and technical support needs in ways we never had with our previous vendor. It’s been a great move for us."

Felicia Beaudry, Information Librarian for the College adds:

"For other libraries considering the change……please don’t assume that open-source somehow means settling for something “less than” what you have. Koha provides the same functionality of the proprietary systems, but with greater flexibility and ease of use. It’s a perfect solution for our small academic library."

About Newberry College:
Newberry College has a rich tradition of providing personal attention, challenging academic programs, and a close-knit community that welcomes everyone. They combine our strong liberal arts foundation with specialized professional degree programs to prepare students such as you for successful futures. Newberry College prepares students in the Lutheran liberal arts tradition through their supportive academic community for lifelong intellectual and personal development, meaningful vocation, and engaged citizenship in the global society. The College has earned a spot on the 2017 U.S. News and World Report rankings for Best Colleges with their highest ranking ever on the Best Colleges in the South list. For more information please visit: https://www.newberry.edu/about-us

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha's OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies, HTML5, CSS and Javascript, making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/

About ByWater Solutions:
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality Koha support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions for Koha support not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/

ByWater Solutions, an open source community contributor and America's forefront provider of Koha support, announced today that the E.K. Shaheen Library at Glen Oaks Community College, located in Centreville, MI. is now live on Koha. ByWater Solutions completed the migration of the library's 30,000 plus holdings from Symphony earlier this year and is providing ongoing Koha support and hosting services to them. The library's customized online Koha catalog can be viewed at: http://libcatalog.glenoaks.edu/

About Koha:
Koha is the first open-source Integrated Library System (ILS). In use worldwide, its development is steered by a growing community of libraries collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha's impressive feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. It includes modules for circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reserves, patron management, branch relationships, and more.

Koha's OPAC, circulation, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies, HTML5, CSS and Javascript, making Koha a truly platform-independent solution. Koha is distributed under the open-source General Public License (GPL). For more information about Koha, please visit: http://koha-community.org/

About ByWater Solutions:
ByWater Solutions is a full service, high quality Koha support and implementation company dedicated to providing libraries with a lower cost, more advanced level of support for their ILS than a traditional proprietary solution can offer. ByWater Solutions has a proven track record in first rate Koha implementation and support with library systems of all sizes. Our highly ranked, comprehensive support is what sets our company apart from any other vendor in the industry. Partnering with ByWater Solutions for Koha support not only lowers the cost of implementing and maintaining an ILS, but more importantly empowers libraries by giving them the flexibility and freedom they deserve. For more information please visit: http://bywatersolutions.com/

Brill and Leiden University Libraries are proud to present the publication of Codices Hugeniani Online, the fully digitized personal archive of Christiaan Huygens.

Brill and Leiden University Libraries have joined forces to digitize this important archive, allowing online access to a large community of scholars via BrillOnline Primary Sources. The Codices Hugeniani Online (www.brill.com/COHU) offers the fully digitized archive of Christiaan Huygens (1629 - 1695), held at Leiden University Library. The archive includes notebooks and loose leafs with texts in the field of astronomy, mechanics, mathematics and music, as well as correspondence and annotated books.

Huygens was a prominent Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist. He published major studies on mechanics and optics, and a pioneer work on games of chance. He is famous for his discovery of the rings of Saturn and its moon Titan, and for inventing the pendulum clock.

For over three centuries, many scholars have made the Codices Hugeniani the object of their research. The contents of the archive have been made partly accessible through the well-known Oeuvres complètes (a 19-volume 19th-century reference work). More recently, the Codices Hugeniani were described in detail by Dr. Joella Yoder in her Catalogue of the Manuscripts of Christiaan Huygens (Brill, 2013). With COHU the full archive's contents are now easily accessible for the first time.

Marti Huetink, Publishing Director at Brill, commented: “Christiaan Huygens is probably internationally the best known Dutch scientist ever. Brill is proud to be able to publish his papers online, and to contribute to the study of his life and works.”

Mart van Duijn, Curator of Western Manuscripts of Leiden University Libraries, commented: “Codices Hugeniani Online is not only a great tool for researchers because of the different search options it offers, it is also a treasure trove of magnificent documents and drawings of the discoveries and inventions made by Christiaan Huygens.”

About Brill
Founded in 1683 in Leiden, the Netherlands, Brill is a leading international academic publisher in 20 main subject areas, including Middle East and Islamic Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, History, Biblical and Religious Studies, Language & Linguistics, Biology, and International Law. With offices in Leiden and Boston and a representative office in Singapore, Brill today publishes 265 journals and around 1000 new books and reference works each year, available in both print and electronic form. Brill also markets a large number of primary source research collections and databases. The company’s key customers are academic and research institutions, libraries, and scholars. Brill is a publicly traded company and is listed on Euronext Amsterdam NV. For more information, visit www.brill.com.

About Leiden University Libraries
In spite of its venerable age (it was founded in 1587), UBL is one of the Netherlands' most innovative libraries. As a knowledge partner it supports scientific research and teaching with new services and will shortly be able to add to its facilities a new building to house its sizeable Asian collections (due to be completed in 2017). The library's special collections, including important Western and Oriental manuscripts, archives, letters, old prints, atlases and maps, drawings and photographs, are used extensively by Leiden academics and their students, and attract scholars from throughout the whole world. More information: http://libraries.leiden.edu/.

The Koha Community is proud to announce the release of Koha 16.11

Koha, the world's first fully web based and open source integrated library system has now been released as version 16.11. This release will include over 240 enhancements as well as numerous bug fixes. Koha 16.11 builds on the system's already robust functionality and adds many architecture improvements to make the impressive speed of this fully web based system even faster. Some key highlights of the 16.11 release include:

Added ability to place article requests and document delivery in Koha

Addition of a patron quick add form for on the fly patron additions

A new Housebound Readers Module, adding the linking of deliverers, item choosers and homebound patrons

"Koha 16.11 contains many important architecture and plumbing improvements to the system which pave the way for the next few releases and the exciting enhancements lined up to be included. Because architecture improvements are typically behind the scenes they are more difficult to find funding for, so taking care of these improvements will result many long term gains for Koha."

The Koha Community would like to thank the following libraries and companies who are known to have sponsored new features in Koha 16.11:

We would also like to thank the 72 individuals and 36 libraries, companies, and institutions who contributed patches to this release, as well as the 102 individuals involved in testing Koha 16.11.

About Koha:
Koha is the first web based and first free software library automation package. In use worldwide since 1999, its development is steered by a growing community of users collaborating to achieve their technology goals. Koha’s feature set continues to evolve and expand to meet the needs of its user base. Since its creation, Koha has become the most downloaded ILS in the world with tens of thousands of libraries utilizing it globally.

Full-featured ILS: In use worldwide in libraries of all sizes, Koha is a true enterprise-class ILS with comprehensive functionality including basic and advanced options. Koha includes modules for acquisitions, circulation, cataloging, serials management, authorities, flexible reporting, label printing, multi-format notices, offline circulation for when Internet access is not available, and much more. Koha will work for consortia of all sizes, multi-branch, and single-branch libraries.

Multilingual and translatable: Koha has a large number of available languages, with more languages every year.

Full text searching: Powerful searching and an enhanced catalogue display that can use content from Amazon, Google, LibraryThing, Open Library, and Syndetics, among others.

Library Standards Compliant: Koha is built using library standards and protocols such as MARC 21, UNIMARC, z39.50, SRU/SW, SIP2, SIP/NCIP, ensuring interoperability between Koha and other systems and technologies, while supporting existing workflows and tools.

Web-based Interfaces: Koha’s OPAC, circ, management and self-checkout interfaces are all based on standards-compliant World Wide Web technologies–XHTML, CSS and Javascript–making Koha a truly platform-independent solution.

No Vendor Lock-in: It is an important part of the free software promise that there is no vendor lock-in: libraries are free to install and use Koha themselves if the have the in-house expertise or to purchase support or development services from the best available sources. Libraries should be free to change support company and export their data at any time, make sure your support company allows this. For more information please visit: https://koha-community.org